Where do sea pens live?

Sea pens have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, as well as from the intertidal to depths of more than 6100 m. Sea pens are grouped with the octocorals, together with sea whips (gorgonians).

1. What is the sea pen habitat?
2. Do sea pens live on the ocean floor?
3. How do sea pens eat?
4. Are sea pens edible?
5. Is Gorgonia a medusa or polyp?
6. Are sea pens Coelenterate?
7. Are sea pens sessile?
8. How big do sea pens get?
9. How do sea pen survive?
10. How long can a sea pen live?
11. Are sea pens poisonous?
12. How did sea pens get their name?
13. Who discovered sea pens?

What is the sea pen habitat?

They live at many depths from shallow waters down to deep seas in tropical and temperate waters worldwide. They prefer deeper waters where turbulence is less likely to uproot them. Sea pens can have a chunky, more club-like appearance or have a feather-like appearance. Sea Pens share many features with Soft Corals.

Do sea pens live on the ocean floor?

A soft-bodied invertebrate that lives on the ocean floor, sea pens look just like feathered quills once used for writing. And where there's one sea pen, there are usually others – lots of them – all swaying in the ocean current gobbling up planktonic plants and animals as they drift by.

How do sea pens eat?

They feed on the “yolk” they are provided with at birth until they settle and begin to grow their first polyp and tentacles to catch food. ... Like all other corals, sea pens are filter feeders, capturing plankton and detritus (dead plant and animal matter) in their tentacles to eat.

Are sea pens edible?

A few sea pens may harbour zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae) inside their bodies. These carry out photosynthesis and may contribute nutrients to the host polyp. But most gather edible bits from the water.

Is Gorgonia a medusa or polyp?

sea fan, (genus Gorgonia), any member of a genus of invertebrate marine animals of the suborder Holaxonia (class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria). It is a variety of coral composed of numerous polyps—cylindrical sessile (attached) forms—that grow together in a flat fanlike pattern.

Are sea pens Coelenterate?

cnidarian, also called coelenterate, any member of the phylum Cnidaria (Coelenterata), a group made up of more than 9,000 living species. Mostly marine animals, the cnidarians include the corals, hydras, jellyfish, Portuguese men-of-war, sea anemones, sea pens, sea whips, and sea fans.

Are sea pens sessile?

Sea pens are colonial. Although considered sessile, they can move up to 40 cm by slow creeping on their vertical axes while still attached to their substrates. One behavioral characteristic found in all sea pens is that they have the ability to bury themselves.

How big do sea pens get?

It grows about 10 feet (3 meters) long with a big, flat head of polyps at its end, their tentacles picking food out of the water as the head is pushed along by the current, Williams said. Most sea pens, however, grow to between 2 inches and 6 feet, 7 inches (5 centimeters to 2 meters) in height, he said.

How do sea pen survive?

Each sea pen is a colony of polyps (small anemonelike individuals) working together for the survival of the whole. ... Some polyps feed by using nematocysts to catch plankton; some polyps reproduce; and some force water in and out of canals that ventilate the colony.

How long can a sea pen live?

Sea pens are a type of octocoral, or soft coral, which are related to jellyfish and anemones. They may not get as much love as their glamorous cousins, the reef-building hard corals, but sea pens are fascinating creatures that can live to be 100 years old, glow in the dark and live in the soft sediments of Puget Sound.

Are sea pens poisonous?

Equipped with tiny poisonous harpoons and digestive enzymes so strong they can digest the flesh of a small animal in 15 minutes, the sea anemone belies its harmless appearance. Sea anemones are animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, which includes the jellyfish, corals and sea pens.

How did sea pens get their name?

sea pen, any of the 300 species of the order Pennatulacea, colonial invertebrate marine animals of the class Anthozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The name sea pen derives from their resemblance to quill pens. They occur in shallow and deep waters from polar seas to the tropics.

Who discovered sea pens?

History of Discovery

The first published record of bioluminescence in sea pens is by Conrad Gesner in his 1555 work, “De lunariis” [14]. Bioluminescence in sea pens is at least briefly mentioned between 1558 and 1746 by François Boussuet, Caspar Bauhin, Ulisse Aldrovandi, Johann Bauhin, and Thomas Shaw [8].